Yesterday I gave a general review of what is new to Logos 8. Today I will look at some of the features included in the Bronze and Silver packages.
Bible Browser (Bronze)
Logos 8 has a new Bible Browser set with multitudes of filters. You can search your Bible according to topics of sin, angels, or Jesus’ resurrection. Want to find every question? Every question asked to Jesus? Every question asked by Jesus? In the Gospel of Mark? You can do that.
What about every time Jerusalem is mentioned as an allusion to Isaiah in the book of Revelation?
You can do that too. This is a brilliant help.
Psalms/Proverbs Explorer (Bronze)
In the Psalms Explorer, you can search through the Psalms according to book (as there are 5 “books” of the Psalms), order, genre, structure, and author.
Let’s say you begin by filtering the Psalms by book. You can search for all the psalms which contain the themes of evil and worshipping God and are written by David. There are 12. If I then search for ones which include God’s providence, then there are 8 psalms.
There is a similar procedure in the Proverbs Explorer, just without the floating orbs (and understandably so). So if you want to find where Proverbs speaks about a “brother” and “adoption,” you can find that.
If you want to find where foolish men are spoken of in different Odes to Wisdom, you can find that too. (There are four occurrences: Prov 1:20–33; 8:1–11; 9:1–6; Eccl 9:16–18).
Canvas (Bronze)
Canvas is a new feature in Logos 8 that is like having a white board on your computer. You can drag a text onto the screen, separate it how you would like, draw lines and arrows, make different designs to show emphasis in the text. I’m not exactly the creative type so I haven’t used this much yet. You can read more about it here and here, and you can watch a video about it here.
Theology Guide (Silver)
The Theology Guide is a helpful way to dig into theological topics. The Theology Guide is connected to the new Lexham Survey of Theology (LST). Say you want to study up on Christ’s atonement. When you type in “atonement,” “Theories of Atonement” and “Extent of the Atonement” will come up. Under “Theories,” the section in LST comes up with all of the various theories of the atonement, key Bible verses, recommended resources, and related topics. The Passage Guide has most of this information but includes lists of systematic theologies. If you own any of them, you can open them and begin reading. If not, they’ll be locked until you buy them.
Courses Tool (Starter)
Logos 8 users get access to one free course. Logos has been making some brilliant video courses for the last few years for their Mobile Ed program. Many scholars who have written commentaries on a particular book then are asked to create a video course on that book. David deSilva, who has written a commentary on Hebrews, Perseverance in Gratitude, has a course on Hebrews with 115 sessions! Most of the sessions are fairly short, so you won’t have to sit through 115 hours of Hebrews (which might be nice for some of us). But courses include more than video lectures. They include a syllabus, a textbook, suggested reading, and other activities. I assume you have to purchase the textbook separately. If you own any of the resources mentioned in the videos or as suggested reading, then of course you have the option of using them for further learning.
There are more courses than those on books of the Bible. Michael Heiser has videos on The Jewish Trinity (the Trinity in the OT), Learning Biblical Hebrew, Problems in Biblical Interpretation, and more. Bruce Waltke has a course on OT Theology, Doug Moo has NT Theology, and Nicholas Perrin has a Biblical Theology on the Kingdom of God. There are many courses worth getting. The difficulty is choosing only one! (Of course, you can always buy more if you want, though they do come with a hefty price tag.)
Sermon Editor (Silver)
In the Logos 8 Sermon Editor, you can write your sermon in Logos, make your outline, and easily create slides for your congregation (if you use that sort of thing) or Bible study. There is no need to go to Microsoft PowerPoint or Apple Notes (thankfully!) to make your Powerpoints. Adding your sermon text to your church website can be automatized too. Here you can easily use quotes and images for Powerpoints. You can easily create the text, a handout, and Powerpoints in one place. Video lessons can be found here.
Recommended?
Indeed. As I said yesterday, Logos is my favorite Bible software program. They continue to come out with new and innovative features. It takes time to learn how to use it, but with time and diligence Logos can really help you dig into the Bible in less time. This isn’t a microwave approach. There is no magic “silver bullet” here. It takes time and work, but that time can be shortened. Pastors and teachers will benefit immensely from the new Logos 8. It does come at a cost, so search around the Logos site as much as you can to see if you will use this program to make it “worth it.” But if you get it and put the time and effort into it (studying isn’t meant to be “easy”), you will be pleased with your purchase.
You can find all Logos 8 packages here.
You can find the Logos 12 Days of Christmas Sale here.
Disclosure: I received this update free from Faithlife. The opinions I have expressed are my own, and I was not required to write a positive review. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html.
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